Our reaction to the SOTU – Match the words with action!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

President Obama “made clear that job creation and bolstering the middle class would top the list” of his priorities, but we know that when all the GOP wants to do is cut programs that help the middle and working class, the President will need our help to pressure our legislators into taking action.

President Obama called on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour from $7.25 and to automatically adjust it with inflation.” Although it’s a good start, work place abuses, retaliation, and income inequality will continue to grow unless we strengthen our country’s unions.

“‘We can’t just cut our way to prosperity’ by forcing communities to lay off teachers, police and firefighters.” “Federal workers have already sacrificed $103 billion toward deficit reduction in the form of pay freezes and reduced retirement benefits for future hires.” If we want to get out of this fiscal mess, we shouldn’t be focusing on cutting wages of folks in the middle class. We should be focusing on making mega corporations pay their fair share in taxes, while eliminating the offshore tax havens that harbor billions of dollars in potential revenues.

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The great American middle class wasn’t something that just happened – it was built brick by brick. It was built by soldiers returning from war and a government that repaid them by giving them a shot at college.

What the wealthy and well-connected figured out is that they have strength in numbers: the numbers of dollars they contribute to politicians. It’s time working and middle class Americans use our strength in numbers to reclaim the American Dream. We need a counterweight to the power of big money – and that’s the power of big numbers, the power of ordinary people who work for a living demanding to have our voices heard – from the workplace to Washington.